Janusz Walus. (Photo: Netwerk)
- Chris Hani’s killer, Janusz Walus, was stabbed in prison by a fellow inmate on Tuesday.
- He was in a stable condition and receiving medical attention.
- A fellow prisoner who witnessed the incident said the incident was not gang-related and that the inmate who attacked Walus was a staunch ANC supporter.
Chris Hani’s killer, Janusz Walus, was stabbed by a fellow inmate on Tuesday.
The correctional services department said Walus was “stable” and receiving medical attention from healthcare officials.
The department’s spokesperson, Singabakho Nxumalo, said Walus was stabbed by an inmate from the same housing unit.
Nxumalo said:
A detailed incident report is to be provided at a later stage, but what can be stated at this point is that inmate Walus is stable and healthcare officials are providing the necessary care. Stabbing and other forms of disturbances are offences not warranted in a correctional environment and this case will be investigated.
Last week, the Constitutional Court ordered Walus to be released on parole.
Chief Justice Raymond Zondo said Walus was unlikely to re-offend and must be freed within 10 days.
Walus assassinated Hani, a popular ANC and SA Communist Party leader, in April 1993.
READ | Hani’s killer Janusz Walus must serve his sentence to the ‘fullest’ in South Africa – home affairs
News24 was called by a fellow prisoner who witnessed the attempt on Walus’ life.
He said Walus had been on his way to the bathroom, probably to shower, when another inmate stabbed him with a “huge homemade knife… made out of steel”.
The prisoner said:
Janusz was just walking when the guy jumped on him. Janusz tried to fight back, he is fit, he gyms every day. The attacker was taken away by prison warders, nobody hurt him. There was a lot of blood, but Janusz will survive. He stabbed him in the stomach only.
“It was only one guy who attacked him, nobody else joined in. We were all shocked, it was definitely not a gang-related incident.”
The witness said the inmate who stabbed Walus was a “staunch ANC supporter” and that the incident was “politically motivated”.
He believed the inmate acted on his own and that the “leadership” was shocked because no one instructed him to stab Walus.
“We plan this kind of stuff and give the right. No one just does something like this,” he said.
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